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Michael Kavanagh

Michael J. Kavanagh is a journalist based in Kinshasa and New York who reports on conflict and post-conflict development issues around the world, with a special focus on Africa. His radio and television work appears regularly on NPR, BBC, PBS, and PRI. His writing and photography have been featured by Slate, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Grist, Bloomberg News, MediaStorm, and the Boston Globe. He’s reported from over a dozen countries including Afghanistan, Haiti, Chad, Rwanda, Liberia, Sudan, Senegal, Burundi, and South Korea.

He began his career as a producer and reporter for a number of NPR and PRI shows and worked as a teacher and mentor for Radio Rookies, New York Public Radio’s journalism program for teens. He has received several grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the International Reporting Project, and is the recipient of an Edward R. Murrow award for his writing and reporting as well as a Gracie Award and several New York Festivals Awards. His work in Congo for PBS received the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for International Reporting and was nominated for an Emmy Award.

He has a B.A. in Literature and an M.A. in International Relations and Development Studies, both from Yale University.

Clips of Kavanagh’s past work from Africa’s Great Lakes:

"Never Again? Without urgent action, we'll be watching Hotel Congo in 2014." A 2004 review of Hotel Rwanda in light of the DRC conflict. 
 
"Love in the Time of Reconciliation," A Rwandan radio soap opera promoting reconciliation between Hutus and Tutsis.
 
"Kalizi's Corner," A Reporter’s Notebook from the DRC’s 2006 elections.